Yes, Columbine Had Armed Guards—And They Saved Lives

School Safety: Critics of the National Rifle Association's call for armed security guards at our schools respond that one famous school did have a sheriff's deputy on scene. But without him, the toll would have been much worse.

After remaining silent on the mass shooting at Sandy Hook, the NRA's Wayne LaPierre held a press conference Friday to condemn another tragedy in a gun-free zone and to advocate the placement of armed security guards at our schools as is done at airports, banks and other public venues.

"It's now time for us to assume responsibility for our schools," he said. "The only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be permanently involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection."

LaPierre called for a national school security plan, including an appropriation from Congress for armed guards in every school. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said.

As we have pointed out, the shooter at the theater in Aurora, Colo., had other theaters between his home and his ultimate target that he could have chosen. Yet, the one he picked was the one that publicly proclaimed itself gun-free.

We've also observed that in other school shooting incidents, such as at a high school in Pearl, Miss., the shooter's spree was cut short by the presence of an armed citizen able to shoot back.

Yes, the critics respond, and there was an armed security guard at Columbine High School in 1999. Yet, 12 students and a teacher were killed by two armed intruders, as if that disqualified the solution of placing armed guards, possibly unemployed army veterans, at each of our nation's 100,000-plus schools.

Yes, there was, and it was the guard's presence and the resistance he and others offered that kept the carnage less than it might have been.

On April 20, 1999, Neil Gardner, an armed sheriff's deputy who had been policing the school for almost two years, was eating lunch when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold arrived at Columbine with their deadly arsenal and deadlier intentions.

Gardner said he got a call from a custodian that he was needed in the school's back parking lot. A few minutes later, he encountered Harris, and the two exchanged gunfire. The exchange with Harris lasted for an extended period of time, during which Harris' gun jammed.

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